# Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics consisted of five medal events contested from 24 July to 6 August 2021 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Tōkyō Taiikukan) in Tokyo, Japan. A total of 174 athletes (86 men and 88 women) representing 57 National Olympic Committees competed. The Games had been postponed by one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic but retained the name Tokyo 2020.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) • [2](https://www.ittf.com/2024/07/23/beyond-the-pandemic-table-tennis-shines-bright-in-tokyo-2020/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates and venue | 24 July – 6 August 2021, Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (Tōkyō Taiikukan), capacity 7,000 for Olympic table tennis[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) • [3](https://tokyo2020.coni.it/en/venues/impianto/16-Tokyo_Metropolitan_Gymnasium.html) |
| Events | Five: men's and women's singles, men's and women's team, and mixed doubles, a new event[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) • [4](https://library.olympics.com/digitalCollection/DigitalCollectionAttachmentDownloadHandler.ashx?documentId=849139&parentDocumentId=849101&skipCopyright=true&skipWatermark=true) |
| Participation | 174 athletes (86 men, 88 women) from 57 NOCs; 70 women and 65 men played singles[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) |
| Mixed doubles gold | Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito of Japan beat China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen 4–3 in the final on 26 July[5](https://www.ittf.com/2021/07/26/jun-mizutani-mima-ito-secure-historic-mixed-doubles-gold-tokyo/?from=5) • [1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) |
| Singles champions | Ma Long (men) defended his 2016 title; Chen Meng (women) won singles and team gold[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) |
| Medal table | China 4 gold, 3 silver, 0 bronze (7 total); Japan 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze (4 total)[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) |
| Team finals | China beat Germany 3–0 for the men's team title, its fourth consecutive; China beat Japan for the women's team title[6](https://www.ittf.com/2021/08/06/review-day-14-china-finishes-high-note-play-concludes-tokyo/?from=9) • [1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) |
## Programme change and the new mixed doubles event
The Tokyo program was the first change to the table tennis event line-up since 2008, when men's and women's doubles had been replaced by team events. In line with the [International Olympic Committee](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-olympic-committee)'s effort to introduce more mixed events, a mixed doubles contest was added.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) The International Table Tennis Federation announced the addition after the IOC Executive Committee meeting in Lausanne in June 2017, noting that mixed doubles had been a fixture of the ITTF World Championships since 1926 and would make its first Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020.[7](https://www.ittf.com/2017/06/09/table-tennis-mixed-doubles-added-tokyo-2020/)
The mixed doubles competition was played in a direct elimination format, with one team per country and a maximum of 16 teams.[4](https://library.olympics.com/digitalCollection/DigitalCollectionAttachmentDownloadHandler.ashx?documentId=849139&parentDocumentId=849101&skipCopyright=true&skipWatermark=true) For the team events, likewise, only one team per country could qualify, again with a maximum of 16.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE)
## Competition schedule
Play ran daily from 24 July to 6 August 2021, with a one-day break on 1 August between the end of the singles tournament and the start of the team events. All matches took place at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.[8](https://www.ittf.com/2019/04/16/tokyo-2020-competition-schedule-unveiled/) • [3](https://tokyo2020.coni.it/en/venues/impianto/16-Tokyo_Metropolitan_Gymnasium.html) The mixed doubles concluded first, with its gold medal match on the evening of 26 July; the women's singles final followed on 29 July, the men's singles final on 30 July, the women's team final on 5 August, and the men's team final on 6 August.[3](https://tokyo2020.coni.it/en/venues/impianto/16-Tokyo_Metropolitan_Gymnasium.html)
The gymnasium was a legacy venue of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where it had hosted gymnastics and water polo.[3](https://tokyo2020.coni.it/en/venues/impianto/16-Tokyo_Metropolitan_Gymnasium.html)
## Competition summary
**China's continued dominance.** As at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics, the People's Republic of China took gold and silver in both singles events and gold in both team events. [Ma Long](https://www.edgepedia.org/ma-long) repeated his 2016 double of men's singles and team gold, with [Fan Zhendong](https://www.edgepedia.org/fan-zhendong) taking men's singles silver and Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany the bronze. In the women's singles, Chen Meng beat fellow Chinese player [Sun Yingsha](https://www.edgepedia.org/sun-yingsha) for gold, with Mima Ito of Japan taking bronze.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE)
**Japan's historic gold.** In the mixed doubles, the Rio 2016 medallists [Jun Mizutani](https://www.edgepedia.org/jun-mizutani) and [Mima Ito](https://www.edgepedia.org/mima-ito), probably aided by home advantage, defeated the Chinese pair in seven hard-fought games, 4–3.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) The victory on 26 July at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium made them the first pair to win Olympic mixed doubles gold and gave Japan its first-ever gold medal in any table tennis discipline since the sport joined the Olympic program at the Seoul 1988 Games.[5](https://www.ittf.com/2021/07/26/jun-mizutani-mima-ito-secure-historic-mixed-doubles-gold-tokyo/?from=5) Chinese Taipei took the mixed doubles bronze.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE)
**Team events.** In the men's team tournament, top-seeded China completed a 3–0 victory over second-seeded Germany in the final on 6 August, claiming the title for the fourth consecutive Olympics; Japan, the third seeds, beat fourth-seeded Korea Republic 3–1 for bronze.[6](https://www.ittf.com/2021/08/06/review-day-14-china-finishes-high-note-play-concludes-tokyo/?from=9) In the women's team event, China beat Japan for gold and Hong Kong, China took bronze.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE)
**Medal table.** China led with 4 golds, 3 silvers, and no bronzes, for 7 medals in total. Japan placed second with 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze. Germany took 1 silver and 1 bronze, and [Chinese Taipei](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-taipei) and Hong Kong, China one bronze each.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE) Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov, 32 at the time, won singles bronze and team silver, his fifth and sixth Olympic medals, having taken at least one medal at every Games since 2008.[1](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE)
## Aftermath
The mixed doubles event remained on the Olympic program for the Paris 2024 Games after what Olympedia describes as a successful Tokyo tournament.[9](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/63/sports/TTE) In Tokyo, China won four of the five gold medals on offer, its only loss coming in the new mixed event.[10](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/table-tennis/articles/cv2xepx47pwo) In Japan, the mixed doubles final drew a record 15 percent of [TV Tokyo](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-tokyo)'s total viewing audience for the Japanese pair's gold-medal win, a figure the ITTF cited as a sign of the event's popularity ahead of the home Games.[7](https://www.ittf.com/2017/06/09/table-tennis-mixed-doubles-added-tokyo-2020/)
## References
1. [Table Tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Olympedia](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/61/sports/TTE)
2. [Beyond the Pandemic: Table Tennis Shines Bright in Tokyo 2020, ITTF](https://www.ittf.com/2024/07/23/beyond-the-pandemic-table-tennis-shines-bright-in-tokyo-2020/)
3. [Tokyo 2020 – Venues: Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Italian National Olympic Committee](https://tokyo2020.coni.it/en/venues/impianto/16-Tokyo_Metropolitan_Gymnasium.html)
4. [Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Table Tennis competition document, Olympic Studies Centre](https://library.olympics.com/digitalCollection/DigitalCollectionAttachmentDownloadHandler.ashx?documentId=849139&parentDocumentId=849101&skipCopyright=true&skipWatermark=true)
5. [Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito Secure Historic Mixed Doubles Gold in Tokyo, ITTF](https://www.ittf.com/2021/07/26/jun-mizutani-mima-ito-secure-historic-mixed-doubles-gold-tokyo/?from=5)
6. [Review Day 14: China finishes on high note, play concludes in Tokyo, ITTF](https://www.ittf.com/2021/08/06/review-day-14-china-finishes-high-note-play-concludes-tokyo/?from=9)
7. [Table Tennis Mixed Doubles Added to Tokyo 2020, ITTF](https://www.ittf.com/2017/06/09/table-tennis-mixed-doubles-added-tokyo-2020/)
8. [Tokyo 2020 competition schedule unveiled, ITTF](https://www.ittf.com/2019/04/16/tokyo-2020-competition-schedule-unveiled/)
9. [Table Tennis at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Olympedia](https://www.olympedia.org/editions/63/sports/TTE)
10. [Olympic table tennis: schedule, rules, scoring, and venues at Paris 2024, BBC Sport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/table-tennis/articles/cv2xepx47pwo)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Other team and ball sports › Racket and precision ball sports › Table tennis › Table tennis competitions › Olympic table tennis*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license